German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Berlin will not give the long-range missiles requested by Ukraine to fight against Russia because he wanted to prevent an escalation of the war started by Vladimir Putin.
However, Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) told Newsweek on Thursday that Scholz's decision about withholding the weapon was "ridiculous" and his stance was "nurturing fears."
Kyiv has long called for Berlin to supply the Taurus KEPD-350 missile, one of the most modern weapon systems of the German military.
More than 16.4 feet long and weighing 1.4 tons, the Taurus is fired from the air by fighter jets. It can travel at more than 700 miles an hour and hit targets over 300 miles away.
Ukrainian officials want Taurus missiles in order to strike Russian ammunition depots behind the front line and for attacking resupply routes, such as the Kerch Bridge between occupied Crimea and Russia.
But Scholz has opposed supplying Kyiv with the weapon, giving different reasons ranging from concerns it would draw Germany into the conflict or be used against Moscow to it requiring a level of tactical assistance from Berlin that contravenes NATO members' efforts to contain the war in Ukraine.
Scholz reiterated his opposition to the move in an interview with the German newspaper Märkische Allgemeine, in which he admitted he had not spoken with Putin since December 2022.
"As head of government, I must assume my responsibilities in matters of war and peace and when it comes to security in Europe—and that also applies to the Taurus issue," he said, according to a translation.
"We will do everything we can to prevent an escalation of the war, that is, a war between Russia and NATO," he said, "with each supply of weapons, we will carefully consider what it means in this context. That's why I decided the way I chose."
Scholz and other German politicians are reportedly concerned that the Bundeswehr would lose access to the technology required to use the missile efficiently if it were supplied to Ukraine.
Gressel said that Scholz and his Social Democratic Party were pushing a line about Taurus causing escalation to regain voters from the parties AfD (Alternative for Germany) and Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht.
"The notion that Scholz would avoid a NATO-Russian war by not delivering a sort of equipment, be it tanks or Taurus, is utterly ridiculous," Gressel said. "Actually the opposite is true, he is rather facilitating such a war in the longer future.
"The U.K. and France have delivered very similar weapons to Taurus. No World War III yet. Russia can't afford a war with NATO at this stage, as its army is bogged down in Ukraine and it has fired off most of the munitions it would need to fight NATO.
"In fact, Russia, despite the bellicose rhetoric, tries to avoid such a war right now. That has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Scholz, but with lacking capacities."
Newsweek has contacted Scholz's office for comment.
Gressel had earlier told Newsweek in January that Ukraine requires geo-reference data for the navigation system to fire Taurus missiles which are classified, and the argument has been made they could not be exchanged.
"But in fact, Ukraine receives classified German intelligence, particularly data from satellite reconnaissance," he said. "So there already is a protocol for exchanging data, that could be amended to also cover these. At the end, by only providing geodata for the occupied areas, Berlin could limit the use of these cruise missiles to them."
Other voices within the German defense community have called for caution because the Taurus would be the main German deep-strike system to strike the Russian rear in case of an Article 5 contingency in which an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this week that he had received "irritated feedback" from Berlin when Kyiv asked it to provide the missiles amid conflicting reasons being given about Scholz's reluctance, in addition to the threat of escalation.
Gressel said a major problem is that Berlin lacks an immediate successor for Taurus and intends to use the missile into the 2040s.
"Germans not only fear that the German stocks will deplete, but also that Russians would see the missile in operation in Ukraine and gain insights into the missile's counter-measures and stealth characteristics," Gressel said.
"Germany needs a rational debate on the merits of delivering Taurus, planning replacements, and aligning its defense and deterrence means with requirements to support Ukraine."
The missiles are adept at striking targets in the occupied areas of Ukraine, because their navigation and guidance system does not rely on GPS signals. This mitigates the impact of Russian electronic warfare troops' GPS spoofing, which has hampered the use of American-supplied weapons.
Gressel said that the missiles would also help Ukraine's wartime economy because they can "maintain pressure on Russia's Black Sea Fleet and continue to export grain via the Black Sea."
Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian defense ministry for comment.
Update 3/28/24, 12:30 ET: This article has been updated with comment from Gustav Gressel.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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